cousins!

We took the boys and Pluto to Naperville for Barb's birthday dinner tonight, and everyone had a wonderful time. Toward the end of the evening, Erin tried to get them all to take a picture, something we do pretty much every time. And pretty much every time, it's like herding cats. Somebody's mad or refuses to look at the camera, or somebody doesn't want to be near somebody else, or somebody just flat-out throws a fit. So, figuring past would be prologue, I decided to leave my phone camera in my pocket and just help with the herding ... and wouldn't you know it, she got a *perfect* picture. Gaze upon the cuteness!

deja vu

Look who found out that he doesn't fit through the deck rails. Remind you of anyone?

the best souvenir ever

We were on the road for 19 hours on Friday (oh Kansas! oh Missouri!), then we stopped just outside of St. Louis to grab about five hours of sleep, then we got back in the car and headed for the Indianapolis area, where we picked up this guy before heading home.

His name is Pluto, and he's a Labrador retriever. Technically, he's a yellow Lab (because the only officially recognized Lab colors are black, chocolate, and yellow), but his color variation is commonly known as fox red. We are so excited to be a dog family again! (We are also excited to be home again, but not so excited about all the unpacking and laundry that needs to be done.)

arches national park

I hope you're ready, because Arches was the grand finale of our trip, and there's a LOT to talk about.

We left our hotel early in the morning, hoping to beat the rush (because we drove by yesterday and saw lines of cars waiting to get into the park), and for the most part, our strategy worked: We were basically one step ahead of the huge crowds for most of the day.

Once we entered the park, our first stop was Park Avenue, a row of gorgeous rock formations with a path down the middle for strolling. 

After that, we took a stroll around Balanced Rock, and even did a little climbing.

Next up was the Windows section, where we climbed up to the North Window, which gave us an incredible view, including a view of Turret Arch, which was basically next door. There were people everywhere by this point, and a nice lady offered to take a picture of us all, so we did that. We're standing in the North Window, but you can't really tell from the picture. Oh well. We know the truth.

The next stop was a view of Delicate Arch, which is probably the most popular arch in the whole place. We opted to view it from a distance, since it was literally crawling with people. Ugh, people.

After that we took a short trail to admire the canyons, fins, and mazes of the Fiery Furnace area, and Henry took a little break to build some cairns to add to the ones already there. Such concentration!

Probably my favorite part of the park was Sand Dune Arch. More specifically, the interesting path that led to Sand Dune Arch. We had to squeeze through a channel created by rock formations, then walk through the sand (or, I guess, sand dune) to find this little arch sort of tucked away in the rocks. It was my favorite because it felt like a secret (even though of course there were other people there discovering the same thing).

We drove past Skyline Arch, which was just along the side of the road, and came to the Devils Garden area. By this time, most of us were pretty worn out, but Mike and Liam opted to take the trail into Devils Garden to see a few more arches. Their perseverance was rewarded, too, because they also saw some birds (finally!): a Cassin's finch, a Western bluebird, and a raven. Oh, and also Tunnel Arch, Pine Tree Arch, and Landscape Arch.

night sky over canyonlands

One of the things Mike wanted to talk to the ranger about when we stopped at the Canyonlands visitor center was the best place to take nighttime pictures. Canyonlands is a Gold-Tier International Dark Sky Park, so we wanted to (again!) try our hand at some good star pictures. Sadly for me, Henry was definitely not up for going back out to the park after dark (he was tired and cranky) so I stayed at the hotel with him while Mike took Liam and Max back our for some Canyonlands after dark. They reported that it was dark and very creepy, since they were the only ones there (I guess the night wasn't clear enough for the pros?), but they took some really excellent pictures. Check them out:

canyonlands

After a delicious early lunch at the Quesadilla Mobilla (a food truck with the most delicious quesadillas ever), we set off to explore Canyonlands National Park. I have to say, I liked it a lot better than the Grand Canyon. There were spectacular views, like you might expect, but it wasn't nearly as crowded, and there were plenty of things to do that weren't just standing at the edge of a really big hole (though there was plenty of that as well).

We visited the Island in the Sky section of the park, which is the closest to Moab. Our first stop was the visitor center, where we looked at exhibits and talked to a ranger and used a bathroom with funny signs intended to keep non-Americans from pooping on the floor (seriously). Just across from the visitor center was an overlook with a spectacular view, so we climbed around a little and even saw a lizard.

Next stop was the Grand View Overlook, probably the most crowded place we encountered in the park. Again, really great views, and we could see for a long way. We climbed up on a rock and took pictures, and we even got some other random tourist to take a family picture.

After a couple more stops at overlooks, we finally got to get out and stretch our legs on the half-mile trail to Upheaval Dome. A word about national park trail signs: They lie. Case in point: the trail to Upheaval Dome. Half a mile, right? So we had gone for only a few minutes when I saw this sign saying the overlook was .3 miles away. Yay, I thought, this won't be so bad after all. HA! Maybe it was .3 miles as the crow flies, but for us it was half an hour of climbing and zigzagging and climbing some more. It wasn't easy, but eventually we got to the top, and the views were totally worth it.

The last stop of the trip was another hike, this one to Mesa Arch, which has a — you guessed it — fantastic view. By this time, we were dragging a little, by which, of course, I mean that I was dragging. Mike was fine (naturally) but the boys were pretty tired too. Apparently we weren't moving fast enough, because these two women in their early twenties passed us twice (once on the way there and once on the way back), but instead of just passing us on the left (we moved over to the right side of the trail to get out of their way) they took a wide berth off the trail, which is very, very bad because a single footprint can destroy dormant plants that have been there for hundreds of years. Mike and I were irritated, but Liam was incensed at their callous disregard for the nature they were ostensibly there to admire. The only time they weren't in a hurry was at the arch itself, where they kept everyone else waiting while they took slow panoramic shots of each other posing on rocks. Sigh.

In the end, being really tired (hiking at high elevation is hard!) and getting sunburned (sun at high elevation is hot!) was worth it, because we really did love the park. I would say it was definitely Mike's favorite, and is tied with Mesa Verde in my mind.